


Trouble sleeping

by Fandom_Trash_Goblin



Series: Stex drabbles [11]
Category: Starlight Express - Phillips/Stilgoe/Webber
Genre: Cuddling, Emotional neglect, Gear has depression and insomnia, Greaseball kinda sucks in this, M/M, Mentions of getting beaten up, Non-Sexual Intimacy, mentions of beating someone up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 11:01:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29932440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fandom_Trash_Goblin/pseuds/Fandom_Trash_Goblin
Summary: Just an indulgent story about Gear and Rocky
Relationships: A bunch of other implied stuff, Rocky 1/Gear
Series: Stex drabbles [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2122296
Kudos: 3





	Trouble sleeping

The party was jumping. Everyone was there. The components, the coaches, the engines, the freight, and even the nationals were milling around. 

Rocky was standing in the sidelines, he wasn’t much of a partier. He liked getting drunk, sure, and he liked watching his siblings do stupid things, yeah, but he wasn’t a big fan of all the noise and how crowded it got. 

Leaning against a shed, he just merely watched all the partygoers. Dinah and Pearl were dancing together, Brandi was chatting drunkenly with Coco, Hashimoto was twirling Duvay around, and Turnov was whispering something to Brexit. It was something spicy based on how red Brexit’s face was. Man, Rocky hated how single he was. 

For some reason, Greaseball’s gang were even there. Rocky rolled his eyes a little when he saw Roxy and Lube making out in the corner of his eye, and he sent a glare that said ‘Hurt him and I’ll kill you’ to Tank when he saw the diesel skating with Rocket to his shed. 

Someone was missing...

Of course, Greaseball had many members of his gang, but there were three main ones that did everything. Gear was one of them, and he was nowhere to be found. 

He was probably just crying about Greaseball losing or something. 

Rocky decided he should just call it a night, he wasn’t keen on being hungover tomorrow. 

He shoved his way through the crowd and began the journey to his shed. 

He hoped The Hip Hoppers wouldn’t stay out too much later, and he hoped that if they did they wouldn’t make a ruckus when they got back to their shared shed...

“The hell are you doing here?” 

Rocky jerked his head to the right to see Gear leaning against a shed. The diesel had never looked more tired than he did at that moment.

“I’m going to my shed, it’s getting late.” Rocky shrugged. He never liked Gear. The guy hung out with the other dumb engines and was constantly hurting Rusty. He thought that if he gave Gear a taste of his own medicine, by beating him up, that it’d stop. But it hadn’t.

“Figured you’d stay there making sure everyone was safe.” Gear snorted. Rocky noticed that his hair was a little amiss and he had a black eye. 

“They can handle themselves...you get into a fight?” Rocky asked, pointing to his bruised face. He didn’t know what he was doing. His job was to keep the freight safe, not to keep engines that hurt the freight safe.

“Well, GB wasn’t too happy when your brother won...” Gear rubbed the back of his neck. 

“He beat you?” Rocky almost smirked. Yeah he was a little worried, but it was about time someone showed him what it felt like.

“Eh, we sparred...but Greaseball’s so much bigger than me that even if he’s all hurt up from the crash he does some damage.” Gear said sheepishly. 

“He didn’t hold back I’m guessing.” Rocky almost let his concern slip. It was in his nature to worry and want to protect, but he never thought he’d be feeling this way towards someone like Gear.

“Greaseball never holds back.” Gear said with a dry laugh, like he’d heard it before and he’d experienced it firsthand.

“I know.” Rocky replied. He’d been punched by Greaseball once or twice. 

It was quiet for a moment, the only noises being the party in the distance.

“You wanna fight?” Gear suddenly asked.

Rocky shook his head, “You should probably go to bed if you’re hurting.”

“Can’t.” Gear looked at the ground.

“Why?” Rocky raised a brow.

“Greaseball’s still in our yard angry as hell...we diesels know to steer clear of him when he’s in a rage so we’re here.” Gear explained, clearly not happy about the situation.

“Where are the other staying?” Rocky asked.

“Lube’s staying with Roxy and I think Tank’s staying with Rocket...so don’t judge them too much if you see hickeys in the morning.” Gear laughed a little.

“Where are you staying?” Rocky was slowly getting more worried. 

“...The ground probably, I don’t sleep so good though so I’ll probably just look at the stars all night.” Gear admitted.

Damn it. Now he was really concerned. 

“You can’t stay with anyone else?” Rocky tried to act casual.

“Lotta folks don’t care for me.” Gear shrugged.

Rocky bit his lip. Curse his protective nature.

“You wanna...stay in my shed?” Rocky asked slowly. 

Gear scoffed, “You hate me.”

“Yeah I do...” Rocky noticed how Gear flinched at that, “but I ain’t letting you stay out here in the cold all night.” 

“...Alright I’ll stay with you.” Gear said, defeated. He stood up and winced, Rocky rushed to his side before he collapsed.

“Lean on me, I’ll take you to the repair shed tomorrow.” Rocky would normally take him to the repair shed right now, but both of the Tool Twins were at the party getting drunk.

“You’re being too nice...” Gear murmured, leaning against Rocky as he led him to his shed. 

“Probably.” Rocky shrugged as he opened the door and shoved the engine in.

“That hurts.” Gear snorted as Rocky closed the door and skated past him. 

“Good.” Rocky said smugly, diving into his next and getting comfortable.

Gear stood there for a moment, not sure what to do.

“You can lie down, Y’know.” Rocky said quietly.

“Okay...” Gear hesitated for a second more before carefully leading down beside Rocky so they were back to back.

“Goodnight.” Rocky said, closing his eyes and getting ready to doze off.

“Night.” Gear responded.

Twenty minutes passed and it was clear that Gear wasn’t going to sleep. He kept twiddling his fingers and humming a tad. Rocky was getting annoyed.

“Dude.” Rocky began. Gear stopped fiddling.

“Quit moving, I have work tomorrow.” Rocky yawned.

“Sorry, I have problems with sleeping...” Gear mumbled.

Rocky just settled back into the blankets and tried to sleep once more. 

A few more minutes passed by and Gear was still keeping Rocky awake.

The boxcar was about to say something but then he heard sniffling...was Gear crying?

Rocky sat up and turned on his lamp, “Are you okay?”

Gear was quick to sit up and wipe the tears from his eyes, “Yeah I’m fine.”

Rocky rolled his eyes, “You clearly aren’t, what’s wrong?” The red truck hated how worried he was for the diesel.

“You wouldn’t get it...” Gear looked away. 

“Try me.” Rocky challenged, “I’m the eldest of nine kids, I’ve heard everything.”

“...I don’t...like being an engine...” Gear admitted, “It’s not...as nice as it seems...” 

Rocky decided to just let him talk.

“GB is always telling us to beat someone up for him or lose races so he can win but I don’t like fighting and I don’t even really care for racing...growing up with Greaseball was hell and all I had was Tank and Lube but you know how they are...Tank has so many friends and Lube isn’t emotionally all there so I was left by myself a lot...” Gear sniffled, “It’s so lonely being the one folks are scared of...everyone expects me to be the fearless beta but I can’t even do that...” 

“Believe it or not...I get it.” Rocky shrugged, “Being the beta of the freight is a lot like being the beta of The Rolling Stock...”

“I guess...I just wish I didn’t end up here...it’s not a good fit for me...” Gear’s lip quivered before he went into a sobbing fit, all of the sudden grabbing onto Rocky.

Rocky was caught off guard, but he hugged back. “There there...” He said awkwardly, he couldn’t really breathe because of how tight he was being hugged but he didn’t care. 

They sat there for a while, with Rocky holding onto Gear as he cried about his life. Gear eventually pulled away and rubbed at his eyes, “I think I’m okay now...”

“Good...” Rocky decided to throw most of his malice for Gear away. Now he saw the beta of the rolling stock for what he really was: someone who had been beat down by years of loneliness and emotional neglect. He wasn’t going to forgive him for beating up Rusty...but he could be persuaded to maybe. 

“You ever need to talk...come to me...” Rocky said quietly, shutting off the lamp and laying down again.

“Can I...spoon you?” Gear asked shyly.

Rocky sighed but he relented, “Sure.” 

Gear fumbled a bit but he held onto the boxcar and snuggled into his back. 

“You’re a real sweetheart, Rocky.” Gear whispered, kissing the back of Rocky’s neck before settling in to sleep.

Rocky flushed profusely and squeaked out a goodnight.

It was his turn to have problems sleeping. 


End file.
